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The love of money . . . ain't none of your business...

by David and Tim Bayly on March 15, 2012 - 2:34am

We all know that the love of money lies at the root of all sorts of evil. But, of course, we shouldn't ever actually consider or believe this of particular cases. It's a meta truth. Never a particular one.

And so we're left with a strange appendix to 1 Timothy 6:10:

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows--but don't you dare apply this to anyone, Timothy. I can because I'm Paul. I'm inspired. You're neither.

Really, what's the point of this verse if we're never to apply it to particular people and events?

If Scripture says, even hyperbolically, that the love of money is the root of all evil, shouldn't shepherds begin here when looking for the root of evil and defection from God's Word, rather than refuse ever to get here?

The Word of God expects us to see the love of money standing behind sinful deeds--not to refuse to look for it. If we want to shepherd in accord with the Word of God, we would do well to start with the assumption that particular sins have their origin in the love of money.

Some years ago it struck me rather forcibly that 1 Timothy 6:10 was the explanation for a Christian singer appearing in risqué photo shoots despite being a mother and apparently happily married to a famous Christian husband. She was lifting her skirt to the sky away from the camera in one shot and dressing like Lady Godiva in another, not because she wanted intimate relations with men other than her husband, but because someone had calculated that risqué promotional photos would promote album sales and she wanted more album sales. The sin was sexual; the motive was financial.

We do the Church a disservice if we cut 1 Timothy 6:10 out of our Bibles.

(DB)

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Money & stewardship
Pastors

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Submitted by David A Booth on March 15, 2012 - 7:44am

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul deals with the Corinthian's failure to deal with sexual immorality. Without minimizing the severity of the sexual sin - the Apostle seems even more appalled that the church as a whole had accepted it.

In in similar way, while it is true that the love of money is a real and present danger to Christian ministry; I wonder if the greater danger we face right now is our lack of willingness to actually apply the Bible to specific situations.

My experiences are obviously both tainted by my own faulty judgment and sin as well as only engaging a tiny slice of the Church in North America. Nevertheless, I have been struck over the past dozen or so years by conservative reformed Christians who seem to confuse the Kingdom of God for a philosophical debating group. Apparently the last thing we are supposed to do with the Word of God is to actually apply it in any way that might be controversial. I believe the word for this is: Unfaithfulness.

Submitted by Mark Mars on March 16, 2012 - 10:21am

David

I partly agree with you that "The Word of God expects us to see the love of money standing behind sinful deeds." The part I disagree with is that 1 Tim 6:10 says, as you quoted at the beginning of your post, that "the love of money is A root of all SORTS of evil".

I won't deny that a love for money can be and is probably behind many of today's evils, especially in a world where commerce has been "rationalized". However, the problem, as I understand God's word, is that there can be other loves which lead us away from submitting to Christ.

I see 2 Peter 2:13 - 22 teaching us that many false teachers would be like Balaam: they will love money. But the real problem is more insidious that. These false teachers will entice others into sin by means of one's desire for freedom! (cf Jude 4) Consequently, to believe that a love of money is always THE root of ALL evil will cause us to ineffectually deal with our own sins, as well as with the sins of those to whom we minister.

So, I believe we should look for inordinate or debased desires to be behind any sin. But more than that, we should look for the ever present manifestation of what it means to be a sinner: to somehow find a way to live life without submitting to God.

Under His Mercy,

Submitted by David & Tim Bayly on March 16, 2012 - 12:10pm

Dear Mark,

I'm with you almost entirely, except that I'm not convinced that the KJV gets the Greek of 6:10 wrong.

You're aware that in Greek the noun for "root" is anarthous--without definite or indefinite article. Anarthous nouns are normally translated with the indefinite, though not uniformly.

The Greek for evil is "evils". So, literally, the verse says, "for root of all the evils is the love of money."

It could be translated in ways ranging from the KJV's "the root of all evil," to most modern translations' (though not the RSV) "a root of all kinds of evil." In both cases the reading is taken entirely one direction. In the KJV it's taken toward the hyperbolic. In modern translations it's taken toward the commonplace.

I tried to split the difference, but in the end I think the KJV does it better. Modern translations make it into a relatively weak platitude. I think the point Paul's making is stronger than that. Everyone understands that money can be one cause of evil. That's a given. But when Jesus says, "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven," I think he's giving us the sense Paul echoes here.

There are those who try to soften the eye of the needle as well--a "camel gate" in the wall of Jerusalem--but it's not as easy to do this with the statement by Christ because it's not as ambiguous grammatically.

Love in Christ,

David

Submitted by Mark Mars on March 17, 2012 - 5:06am

David,

I agree with our Lord: it is difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. So, I won't deny that being rich or devising a scheme you believe will make you rich makes it very difficult to trust and obey Jesus.

However, I can't understand how some sins, e.g. laziness, gluttony, lying, adultery or pride are predicated solely on a love for money. Even in my short list of such sins, I believe there are four sins that don't even REQUIRE money as a MEANS to act on that sin.

Can you explain how you link all sins back to the love of money, because, as you can see, I don't see it?

Under His Mercy,

Submitted by David & Tim Bayly on March 17, 2012 - 2:40pm

Dear Mark,

I agree with you on this. I don't believe every sin flows from the love of money. But so many sins are--the deceitfulness of wealth entrapping so many--that the Bible speaks in exceptionally serious terms about the dangers of wealth and the love of money. We are to exercise constant vigilance against this motivation because of the many evils which flow from it.

Love in Christ,

David Bayly

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